1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to reading a field device, and more particularly, to presenting information concerning the field device in a presentation format chosen by an operator.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various communication protocols known today that operate as “open standards.” An “open standard” can be generally defined as a publicly available specification for achieving a specific task. By allowing anyone to use the standard, open standards help increase compatibility between various hardware and software components, since anyone with the technical know-how and the necessary equipment to implement solutions can build something that works together with those of other vendors.
In other words, these “open standards” allow devices and control systems from different manufactures to interoperate with each other through the use of open standards communication protocols. One such communication protocol, for example, is the HART® communication protocol, defined by the HART Communication Foundation's specifications. Generally, HART allows for the standardization of communications in a control system between various devices, masters, and slaves within a control system, even if the various devices, and so on, are manufactured by different manufacturers.
Some components of the HART communication protocol open standard are classified as “Common Functions,” which require conformance to all the requirements defined in the standard for the defined common functions. This allows the interface between hosts and slaves to only require a single interface layer to support a variety of slave devices from many distinct vendors. However, other components of the open standard are classified as “device-specific,” and the standard is defined by the individual device manufacturer.
For the class of data transfer associated with “device-specific” transfers, the data typically has embedded within diagnostic information and status information specific to the device model or specific version associated therewith. The host system tends to treat this data in a generic way to simplify the interface. This is done using Device Description (DD) files and the DD files are supplied by the manufacturers. The specific content is determined by the manufacturers. However, the information DD file contains must be presented as defined by the HART communication protocol.
However, this diagnostic information and status information data is at times very large, and can be unwieldy. Furthermore, the diagnostic and status information data conveys abnormal conditions detected by the specific devices with varying degrees of urgency, and the normal or abnormal condition can vary widely in importance to the operator and the processes that they are monitoring and controlling. However, similar devices manufactured by different manufacturers can convey the occurrence of similar abnormal situations with varying degree of urgency, which can be disadvantageous to the end operator.
Conventional control system engineering and operation tools provide a somewhat generic method using the DD files. The control system will either classify all conditions reported by the individual field devices as either “journaled” notifications, “alarmed” notifications or both.
When using the former, an operator will typically need to explicitly navigate to a specific area of the operational part of the system and to find, view and address the detected condition. In other words, the operator will have to navigate through the journal. In contrast, when using the latter approach, the operator is immediately alerted for each detected condition by either an audible or a visual means. The problem with these approaches is that the first approach could delay the operator's response to an urgent situation within the plant and the second approach could cause the operator to be overwhelmed or become complacent, hence, missing urgent situations.
Therefore, there is a need for data presentation that can be tailored, by the operator, for a given device make and model and for each version of a device at configuration or update time. In a further embodiment, the data presentation allows the operator to classify and reclassify, if necessary, each bit of information based on the operator and plant specific requirements and needs.